Slipknot’s Corey Taylor Vents on Difficulties of Crafting New Record Without Paul Gray

“It was difficult [to get back out on the road without Gray], man,” he said. “I’m not gonna lie, there was a part of me that was like, ‘What does it mean without him? How do we do this without him?’ We are all such key pieces to this puzzle. And that’s where some of the trepidation comes at all these people wanting us to just rush right back into the studio … This band doesn’t do anything without a reason, without a purpose. If we’d run right back in just to prove something to ourselves, we would have released an album that would not have been us.”

Taylor went on to say, “For me, there’s still that ‘What’s it gonna be like trying to make an album without Paul?’ thing. He was the glue. He was the guy that just made ideas better. He was the guy that helped us create such great music because he had such a great ear for it and such a great instinct for it. He and Joey [Jordison, drums] came up with some of the best music that we’ve ever had. Part of the process has been getting back onstage and coming together as a family, but in the next couple of years we’re gonna have to figure out what the future represents and that’s something we don’t take lightly. There’s a lot of thought going into it. It’s weird.”

Taylor concludes, “Just the fact that we’ve had the opportunities that we’ve had and the success that we’ve had, we’re extremely lucky. When you walk out onstage and you see all those people losing their f—ing minds, it’s insane. I’m always, like: ‘Really? You’re s–tting me.’ I’m really, really happy that we have this, and that we had it when Paul was with us.”